The present invention is directed to exercise equipment and, more particularly, to a cross-country skiing exercise apparatus with customizable workouts for additional groups of muscles.
In the history of exercise machines, the NORDICTRACK™ cross-country ski machine has been one of the most successful, with wide-spread adoption and a faithful following among its user base. The NORDICTRACK™ ski machine is built to imitate the motions through which a human body goes when cross-country skiing, an exercise widely considered an excellent cardiovascular workout.
There are several models of NORDICTRACK™ ski machines, but they all work on the same basic concept: the user places his/her feet on platforms (skis) which slide back and forth on rails. At the same time there are hand grips attached to cables that simulate the movement of cross country ski poles. In most models, the user can adjust the resistance of both the rails the platforms ride on (simulating skis) and arm grips (simulating poles) to increase the intensity of the workout.
The inventor found that, for himself, the primary shortcoming of the NORDICTRACK™ cross—country ski machine was a tendency to create muscle fatigue and joint pain in the area of the shoulder. Further, the inventor found that on a prior art NORDICTRACK™ ski machine, no variation in hand position or angle/range of the upper body pulling motion alleviated this pain. Additionally, this shoulder pain reoccurred rapidly upon resumption of training on this machine at a later date.
The prior art NORDICTRACK™ ski machine is, in its essence, limited to low intensity steady state (cardiovascular) training and is unsuitable for Anaerobic (Lactate) Threshold Training or High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), both of which incorporate much higher exertion levels.
The prior art NORDICTRACK™ ski machine also causes an unbalanced training effect on the upper body, resulting in a less structurally sound shoulder girdle and musculature. When using the NORDICTRACK™ ski machine, the arms execute a predominately “pulling back” motion against a resistance, whereas the legs perform predominantly a “pushing back” motion. The NORDICTRACK™ ski machine lacks a way to engage the arms with a “pushing forward against a resistance” motion, and does not offer a “leg pushing forward against a resistance” motion. Lastly, the NORDICTRACK™ ski machine suffers from lack of flexibility: if one desires to use it for an intense cardio workout, one cannot select which muscle group to “exert” and which muscle group to “spare”. For example, an athlete whose sport places greatest demands on the lower body, like most team sports, and who wants to get some “cardio” training can only turn down the resistance on the legs (skis) so much before the overall cardiovascular demand of the exercise drops to insignificance. Alternatively, if the athlete lifts weights or rows etc., they would be unable to “spare” the back if it was fatigued from a recent workout
There is an unmet need in the market for a machine which would improve upon a NORDICTRACK™ ski machine, for a machine that would allow users to isolate and selectively exercise (or barely exercise at all, if so desired) different body areas and different muscle groups, without undue stress on those muscle groups to which the user may want to allow some rest and recovery after prior heavy use, and enabling if so desired, a much higher intensity cardio workout.